To the best of the committee's knowledge at this time
the records are as follows:

Prop

Flash

Juggle

Rings

13

10

Balls/Beanbags

12

10

Clubs/Sticks

9

8

The only passing records we are tracking at the moment are
club/stick passing. The most that has ever been passed to
our knowledge is 14 (flash) and 12 (juggle).

For more information about these records, please consult our
web page.

Why don't you have a record for ball passing/ring passing/ball bouncing?

We review the records that we track annually, and consider
adding new ones based on interest in the juggling community.
There is no doubt that clubs passing is a more popular
numbers activity than ball/ring passing which is why we
decided to start tracking it first. We are willing to add
new categories as the interests of the juggling community
change, however, it is surprisingly difficult to find and
verify results for the categories we have.

Although the committee is not currently tracking these
records we are certainly interested in video evidence
of attempts.

Didn't Enrico Rastelli, Frank LeDent or Jenny Jaeger juggle 10 balls?

Perhaps. No one really knows. There are many stories
in juggling history of varying degrees of believability.
Unfortunately we have no way of knowing for sure which
ones are actually true. Because of this it is the
decision of this committee to take only verifiable,
unambiguous evidence in the form of videotape as
proof of a record. Records that exist only as hearsay
(even those widely accepted as historical fact) are not
acceptable.

None of this is meant to diminish in any way the
accomplishments of the jugglers of the past. There is
no question in the minds of the committee members that
Rastelli, LeDent, Jaeger, and others represent some of
the finest juggling talent that has ever lived.

Didn't Sergei Ignatov juggle 11 rings?

Sergei Ignatov has definitely flashed 11 rings (for
evidence there is the IJA 1991 Festival Highlights tape).
Although it is widely believed that he has juggled 11
rings (i.e. 22 or more catches) there does not appear
to be any video evidence of this. Barry Bakalor, a
committee member, asked Ignatov if he was aware of any
footage of this feat. According to Ignatov he never
performed more than a flash of 11 rings. He said that
he had made longer runs in practice, but, to the best
of his knowledge, these were not recorded. We would
welcome video evidence to the contrary.

Again, none of this is meant to diminish Ignatov's
accomplishments. He is unquestionably one of the very
greatest jugglers of all time and richly deserves his
near-legendary status.

Why do you consider sticks and clubs to be the same thing?

For practical and historical reasons.

It proves to be surprisingly difficult to come up with
a rule that precisely differentiates between sticks and
clubs. Many of the "numbers" clubs, for example, are
deliberately very "stick-like" in their design. Many
sticks have a knob at one end like clubs.

It has been argued that sticks can be caught on the
wrong end and clubs cannot without difficulty. This
would imply that sticks thrown with an integral number
of spins should be treated as clubs, but if they are
thrown with half spins they should not. As well as
being arbitrary this is extremely difficult to verify.
In addition it is possible to catch a club backwards
and continue and this would in no way invalidate a
record. Sticks merely make it easier to do so.

The IJA, in its Numbers Challenge, permitted the use
of sticks or clubs in the club competition (in particular,
at the 1995 competition, one competitor entered with
"numbers" clubs, one with batons, and one with sticks).
Although this committee is distinct from the IJA,
considerable inspiration for our rules and prop categories
was drawn from them.

We fully agree that sticks may be easier than clubs at
higher numbers, for several reasons (you can hold more
in your hands, easier to catch, lighter, etc.). However,
it is easier to juggle clubs made out of plastic than
wood and most people juggle plastic clubs for that
reason.

Finally, it is the position of this committee that there
are three kinds of props: flat and circular (rings/hoops),
long and cylindrical (sticks/clubs), and roughly spherical
(balls/beanbags).

The committee is aware that this is a rather controversial
decision and we hope that the reasons listed above go some
way towards explaining our position.

Why do you regard balls and beanbags to be the same thing?

Many of the reasons given in question 6 apply here. In
addition there is a problem unique to balls and beanbags.
Small, tightly packed, single color beanbags look very much
like balls on video recordings. Determining which prop
was used would be very difficult.

Why don't you track records with plates?

Although plates were a very popular prop around the turn
of the century they seem to have fallen out of popularity.
If there is enough interest in the juggling community to
track records with plates we will consider doing so.

The committee has not yet considered the question of
if plates and disks should be considered similar props
and if they should be considered variations of rings or
distinct props in their own right.

Although the committee is not currently tracking these
records we are certainly interested in video evidence
of attempts.

Why do you permit catches to be made by something other than the hands?

It is the decision of the committee that, as long as
the juggler has control over the prop, it can be caught
by other parts of the body (e.g. the back of the neck
or cradled in arms for balls, pulled over the head or
hung on the arms for rings). We do not consider a
record where the props were caught in the hands only to
be "better" than one in which other parts of the body
were used in the same way that we would not consider
11 rings started from the hands to be "better" than 11
rings started with a holster.

We would point out that there is a long tradition of
finishing rings by pulling them down over the head.
These have traditionally been considered catches.

How do I get a record validated?

Send one of the committee members a videotape.
Contact information
is available for all current committee members.

Once two of the members have verified the record it
is validated. We will make every effort to return
the tape to you but would appreciate a copy for our
records.

Why aren't these the same as Guinness records?

Because we are not Guinness. The tracking of juggling
records in Guinness has been somewhat haphazard over
the years (although this has improved greatly in
recent editions) and has relied in some cases on
generally accepted (but unverified) historical records.

Guinness has, in the past, only tracked the largest
number of objects juggled (with a few exceptions). In
general the length of the runs are not listed (again,
with a few exceptions) and the distinction between
a flash and a juggle was not made in all cases.

The committee is attempting a more complete tracking
of juggling records at all numbers (not just the
highest).

Why aren't these the same as IJA records?

Because we are not the IJA. The IJA has generally not
kept track of records set outside its competitions.
In most cases the world mark is significantly better
than the best record in the IJA Numbers competition
(although there are some exceptions).

Can I buy a copy of the videos?

At the moment, no. We hope to make videos of the
records available to the public in some form in
the future but there are various legal and technical
issues that have to be resolved first. If there is
sufficient interest in the juggling community for
such a tape we will do our best to make one available.

However, the technical quality of the tapes we receive,
while sufficient to validate the records, is often not
suitable for commercial reproduction.

IJA, Guinness, and Olympics are trademarks of their respective
organizations.